Alan Minter
| Alan Minter | |||||||
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| Statistics | |||||||
| Real name | Alan Minter | ||||||
| Nickname(s) | Boom Boom | ||||||
| Rated at | Middleweight | ||||||
| Nationality |  English |
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| Born | 17 August 1951 Crawley, England |
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| Stance | Southpaw | ||||||
| Boxing record | |||||||
| Total fights | 49 | ||||||
| Wins | 39 | ||||||
| Wins by KO | 23 | ||||||
| Losses | 9 | ||||||
| Draws | 0 | ||||||
| No contests | 1 | ||||||
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Medal record
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Alan Minter (born 17 August 1951 in Crawley, England) is a former middleweight world champion boxer.
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[edit] Amateur career
Minter was the 1971 ABA Middleweight Champion. He won the bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Soon after, Minter began his career in London on Halloween night of the same year by knocking out Maurice Thomas in six rounds.
[edit] Olympic results
- 1st round bye
- Defeated Reggie Ford (Guyana) KO 2
- Defeated Valeri Tregubov (Soviet Union) 5-0
- Defeated Loucif Hamani (Algeria) 4-1
- Lost to Dieter Kottysch (West Germany) 2-3
[edit] Pro career
Minter won five fights in a row by knockout, and in 1973, Pat Dwyer became the first boxer to go the distance with him, over eight rounds in London. Minter won his next five fights, three by knockout, before tasting defeat for the first time after the referee stopped the fight in the eighth round to King George Aido due to bad cuts suffered by Minter. Two more wins followed before facing Jan Magziarz, who beat him twice in a row (once in the eighth and once in the sixth) again due to cuts.
1974 was a mixed year for Minter, beating Tony Byrne by a decision in eight, losing in two to Ricky Torres (again on cuts), having a third fight with Magziarz result in a no contest in four rounds, and closing the year with a win in eight rounds by decision in his first international fight, against Shako Mamba in Hamburg, Germany.
In 1975, he won four fights in a row, including another bout in Hamburg, and by the end of the year, he challenged Kevin Finnegan for the British Middleweight title, winning it by a 15 round decision. In 1976 he won six fights, to extend his streak to ten consecutive wins. Among the boxers he beat were Billy Knight by a knockout in two and Finnegan once again, by decision in 15, both in defense of his British title, along with former world title challenger Tony Licata, knocked out in six, and American Olympic Games Gold medal winner Sugar Ray Seales, beaten in five. These wins gave Minter a ranking among the top ten Middleweight challengers.
In 1977, he won the European Middleweight title by beating Germano Valsecchi by a knockout in five in Italy. But in his next fight his winning streak ended when he lost to former world title challenger Ronnie Harris by a knockout in eight. Minter returned to top ten challenger status by upsetting the former Welterweight and Jr. Middleweight world champion Emile Griffith with a ten round decision win in Monte Carlo, but then, he lost his European title to Gratien Tonna by a knockout in eight at Milan. He closed '77 with a third 15 round decision win over Finnegan to retain his British title.
1978 was a sad year for Minter, although he won all three of his bouts. On 15 February, at the Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks I undercard in Las Vegas, he won his first bout in the United States by knocking out Sandy Torres in five. Then, he went to Italy once again, to regain his European Middleweight title by knocking out Angelo Jacopucci in twelve rounds. Jacopucci died a few days after the bout, of injuries sustained in the bout. Minter finished his year by avenging his loss to Tonna with a six round knockout.
In 1979, Minter won all four of his fights, two of them by knockout. On 16 March 1980, in Las Vegas, Nevada, he was given a shot at champion Vito Antuofermo's world Middleweight title at the Caesars Palace. He won the title by a 15 round decision, and in a rematch, he retained the world title by a TKO in eight rounds. Minter's run as world champion came to an end on 27 September of that year, when he was stopped on cuts in three rounds to Marvin Hagler at Wembley Arena in London. After the fight was stopped, Minter's supporters caused a riot, throwing beer cans and glass into the ring and both boxers had to be ushered away by the police. Prior to the fight, Minter made the blatantly racist statement on the BBC that "that black man is not going to take my title away". He later retracted this statement and said he meant "no man" is going to take my title away.[citation needed]
Minter beat fringe contender Ernie Singletary in London, in 1981, but after losses to future Hagler challengers Mustafa Hamsho in Las Vegas and Tony Sibson, in London, he retired for good.
He left boxing with a record of 39 wins, 9 losses and 1 no contest, with 23 wins by knockout. In 1983 he also delivered a knockout blow to the British version of This Is Your Life when he could not stop swearing (in delight).[citation needed] As a result the show ceased to be shown live and ratings plummeted.
[edit] Life after boxing
Currently he resides in Littlehampton, England, and tours the UK in autograph and lecture shows, alongside Jim Watt, another world boxing champion.
His son Ross "The Boss" Minter also competes in the welterweight division and is the current English and British (Southern Area) Welterweight champion his record stands at 17 wins (8 KO), 2 loss, 1 draw.
During the Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno fight in October 1993, a beer can was thrown from the crowd, striking Alan Minter, much to the astonishment of the watching BBC commentators.
In a humorous moment on BBC's long-running quiz show A Question of Sport, Emlyn Hughes incorrectly identified Alan Minter as the sportsman disguised in the 'Mystery Guest' round. In fact, it was Sue Barker.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Vito Antuofermo |
Middleweight Champion (WBA,WBC) 16 March 1980 - 27 August 1980 |
Succeeded by Marvin Hagler |
